Why would you ever pay an odd amount of mana to activate this?
"I pay 5 to do 2 damage to your creature and 3 to myself."
Posted By:
The_Sturm
(4/24/2011 3:06:52 PM)
its because you can spend 7 mana this way to do 4 damage to yourself and 3 to an opponent, if thats what you wanted to do for some reason.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(12/20/2010 8:39:41 AM)
@Lyoncet
It's called “power-level errata”. They changed Flash at one point because of Flash-Hulk degeneracy. They reworded it to:
Choose a creature card in your hand. You may pay its mana cost reduced by up to 
. If you do, put that card into play. If you don't, put that card into your graveyard.
So Protean Hulk never touched the battlefield unless you paid the mana. Afterwards, they changed it back.
But you are right, they only Errata to change functionality in very extreme cases.
Posted By:
OmegaSerris
(10/24/2011 5:04:16 AM)
@Ekko:
"When Oracle updated the text, why didn't they make it read "(X)(X): Banshee deals X damage to target player and X damage to you"? It's a terrible card, sure, but it doesn't also have to be poorly worded, too."
Because that would have changer the functionality. As it is, you could pay an odd amount if you wanted to and have it deal the extra damage to you (if for some reason you wanted it to). If it were written your way, you wouldn't have that option. And outside typos that have to get fixed in errata text (like Impulse), you'll never see oracle text that changes functionality. At least not as far as I know.
Posted By:
Lyoncet
(9/7/2011 5:28:24 PM)
Vampiric Link
Posted By:
alucard311
(1/8/2011 3:09:58 PM)
Some people have no imagination. Try Vampiric link as mention but also throw in a Sanguine bond. For best results use Training Ground
x=6 4{T}: Deal 3 deamage to target creature or player, gain 3 life and target opponent losses 6 life.
Yeah sucks pretty bad to me
Posted By:
umumwhatshisname
(7/25/2011 7:40:39 AM)
"I got a rock."
-Charlie Brown
Ironically, a rock would be more useful in a game of Magic than this- you could, say, use it as a token or a counter or a real-life Noggin Whack.
Posted By:
Weretarrasque
(9/25/2009 4:26:18 AM)
When Oracle updated the text, why didn't they make it read "(X)(X): Banshee deals X damage to target player and X damage to you"? It's a terrible card, sure, but it doesn't also have to be poorly worded, too.
Posted By:
Ekko
(8/17/2010 9:08:08 AM)
This is pretty atrocious, even back in the day. Yeah, you could do direct damage with a black creature ability, but it wound up killing you most of the time.
Spirit Link was basically the only way to make this card not suck. Even then it was questionable.
For similar questionable design, see Cuombajj Witches.
Posted By:
yyukichigai
(8/4/2011 6:57:48 PM)
cop black , great for a b/w pestilence style deck
Posted By:
Mindbend
(7/7/2010 3:10:27 PM)